


Piano Kid

by ExceptForBunnies



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: DocMechanic, F/F, doctormechanic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 02:55:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6886600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExceptForBunnies/pseuds/ExceptForBunnies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe Raven was right. It couldn't hurt. A night with a drink or two, being a friend. Not a doctor, not the chancellor. Just a woman listening to some young guy at the piano.</p><p>You know, THE scene ... and what could have happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Piano Kid

_"Shut up and drink."_

The boy at the piano was talented. Abby wondered if she'd ever heard him play at the Ark. There'd been music classes and regular concerts, and not just on Unity Day. There were not enough instruments brought up to space to form a symphony orchestra, of course, but still, they managed. It was all about preserving cultural heritage, and, besides, the melodies soothed their minds.

Abby took a sip from her drink. It tasted earthy but less bitter than the last brew. There was a hint of mint. Monty seemed to have taken some advice from Lincoln who knew about herbs and had taste.

Maybe Raven was right. It couldn't hurt. A night with a drink or two, being a friend. Not a doctor, not the chancellor. Just a woman listening to some young guy at the piano.

When was the last time Abby had been just that? Had she ever? She glanced at the woman next to her. Not with Raven certainly. First, their business with the pod. And on the ground? Injuries, rescues, torture. Her eyes fell on Raven's leg. She had loosened the brace and her foot sat lightly on the base of the barstool.

She could let it rest for a night, Abby decided. Be the friend, she claimed to be. So she sat at the bar, quietly, and sipped her drink.

She felt Raven shuffling beside her, shooting her a glance now and then.

"Are you not talking at all?"

Abby smiled.

"You told me to shut up."

"Let's pretend we're the normal people we're not. Talking normal stuff. Do you like the piano kid?"

"He's quite good", Abby said. "Cute, actually."

"Cute?" Raven shot her a look. Sceptical and with a hint of something Abby couldn't really name. "Like handsome cute?"

Abby grinned. "Like young enough to be my son cute."

"Would that be a problem?", Raven asked.

Abby stared at her. "Excuse me?"

Raven shrugged. "We're two people pretending to be friends in a room pretending to be a bar. Getting drunk as much as it's possible. Me, at least. In this context, it's a perfectly appropriate question, if I might say so."

This woman, Abby thought. "Sometimes, age is just a number", she replied. "But in this case the numbers just don't add up. And, for the record, I'm not pretending."

Raven smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "If you say so, Abby."

Abby wondered, what she had missed. They mostly sat in silence, again. It was not as uncomfortable as it should have been. That was the benefit of always beeing so damn tired. You enjoyed the quiet.

It left them with time to drink. The young woman behind the bar filled their glasses as soon as they were empty. Raven got twice as fast through them as Abby.

Her name was Gina, Abby learned. She had seen her around with Bellamy but there'd never been enough time to talk to her. There was never enough time for anything, really. Gina was from Mecha, she told Abby, and knew Raven because their quarters had been close.

"Reyes and I played hide and seek, when we were kids, Chancellor. And later, she built a ..." Gina paused. It had not been legal.

"It's Abby, Gina, please, do me the favour."

"It was nothing special", Raven explained. She hadn't said a word for some time now. "Just a small car we could navigate from our quarters. To get messages to each other after curfew."

"And the guards?" Abby was curious.

Gina and Raven shared a look.

"The guards liked us", they said, simultanously, and laughed.

Abby looked at them, looked at Raven. She was on the serious side of drunk now, but for the first time tonight she looked carefree and almost happy. How beautiful she is, Abby thought. It scared her.

 

* * *

Around midnight Gina put her hands firmly on the counter. "Time's up, guys! See you tomorrow." 

The kid had long left the piano, but on four or five tables there were still people left, playing cards and, most probably, trading stuff brought here from the mountain. Abby was careful not to look too closely at what they did. She truly wanted to be off duty tonight, she realized. Just a woman listening to two old friends sharing stories of their childhood up in space. 

Raven had lost all her tenseness by now. She must feel less pain thanks to Monty's moonshine, Abby thought, but her ease had mostly to do with Gina. It seemed less difficult for Raven, somehow, to talk to Abby since the barkeeper had joined their conversation. If Gina was aware of the earlier tension between Abby and Raven, she hid it well. 

"It's been a pleasure to have you here tonight, ladies", she said.  "Let's do it, again, some time soon."

Abby smiled, as she nodded. She could feel Raven's eyes on her. 

She waited while Raven fumbled with her brace. It was not her place to help, she thought. 

Only, when they left the hall and Raven stumbled over a lose tile at the door, she put her arm around her.

"It's okay, honey, I got you."  

She wondered, if she went to far. But Raven didn't seem to mind. She was quiet again as she'd been at the beginning of the night, but she leaned against Abby and she hummed a melody. Abby recognized it. It was the song the piano kid had played.

When they reached the corner where Abby had to turn, she hesitated. But Raven smiled. It was genuine this time.

"I'm fine, Abby. Just go ahead. I'll find my bunk and crash. And ... I'm sorry, I was no good company, tonight."

Abby surprised herself, as she took the younger woman in her arms.

"Raven, you're always good company to me." She said it, with Raven's body against her own, said it, while breathing in the smell of her hair. It was true, she realized.

She could feel how Raven softened in her embrace. But she freed herself, almost immediately, from Abby's arms and looked her in the eyes, properly, for the first time tonight. 

"But ... the numbers just don't add up, don't they?"

Her voice was firm. She seemed composed, but Abby caught a flicker in her eyes, and she, finally, understood. If trust equalled love, she had missed all the clues.

"You never said anything, you know?", she said softly.

Raven just shook her head. 

"Abby, really?"

She could have left then. With this knowledge, she had the perfect excuse. To walk away, to put some distance between them, not just tonight, but from now on. She could stop caring about Raven, about her health and, most of all, her happiness. It wouldn't be cruel, just reasonable.

Maybe Raven knew that, as well, and had given her the truth and, at the same time, a chance for her way out. Maybe she hoped, Abby would take her lead.  

It's who you are, Abby thought, and she kissed her.

She couldn't have left. If she stripped herself of Abby, the doctor, of Abby, the chancellor, of being a mother even, if that was possible at all, which she doubted, what else was left, really? Fatigue, yes, so much fatigue. Desire. Desire to feel, to connect.

It seemed impossible, of course. She'd had her chance with Jake and lost, she was losing again and again with Clarke. But still, there was hope, always had been. You don't try to heal, you don't try to lead if you had stopped believing. In second chances. In new beginnings.

100 years ago, it would have been a new house behind a picket-fence, maybe. With a colleague her age, probably. A second child or, rather, a dog. But there'd been a war, a life at the Ark, their fall to the ground. And there she stood now, with Raven Reyes in her arms. Raven, who was beautiful and stubborn and smart. Who deepened their kiss, now. Who sighed "finally" and "fuck, do I want you".

"I'm yours", Abby said and that would have been true even 100 years ago.

They found a bunk and they crashed.

* * *

Later, Raven tried to leave, but Abby took her hand and held her back. Waited, until she rested her head on Abby's shoulder.

"You suck as a friend, you know", Raven said, after a while.

Abby felt a smile coming to her face. "That's good."

"Yeah?"

"Yes." As Abby said it, she knew it was true. "If you let me."

"Will you always shut up, if I tell you?"

Abby shook her head. Raven smiled, and she kissed her.

 


End file.
